Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Kayla Malec, Evan Johnson & James Charles breakdown, Alex Cooper documentary, The Ordinary's viral activation + Piper Rockelle speaks out

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Kayla Malec, Evan Johnson & James Charles breakdown, Alex Cooper documentary, The Ordinary's viral activation + Piper Rockelle speaks out · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  Welcome back to the studio. It's a Friday and people are
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  having the time of their lives at our office, so I'm really
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  sorry if you can hear hear people like laughing and talking
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  in the background. I was waiting for hopefully
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  people to start being quiet. But honestly, I think it's just
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  the Friday vibe. I've never really recorded on a
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  Friday before, I don't think, at least not in a very long time,
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  and the vibes are very different.
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  So I apologize. But I'm happy to be back in
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  studio. I had a really good time at
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  sunrise at the festival the last couple of days.
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  I did so many different talks, I met so many cool people.
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  My presentation, it went well. I was quite nervous.
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  I've had really good feedback since then, Although I did have
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  like a low key traumatic experience.
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  A man immediately, immediately after I stepped off the stage,
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  like literally stepped off the stage and a man, of course, a
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  man came over to me and just starts unloading feedback for
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  quote UN quote next time at me. Like literally talked at me for
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  five straight minutes about everything he thought I did
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  wrong in my presentation. As you can imagine, after doing
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  probably the biggest presentation of your entire
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  career, stepping off the stage after a moment like that and
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  immediately being hit with this unsolicited, quote UN quote
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  advice framed as like, oh, just for next time, here's some like
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  friendly, you know, tips. That was a little hard to
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  grapple with. I did leave the festival crying
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  on the first day after that happened.
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  It was rough. I won't go into like the full
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  story because I'm trying to honestly like forget about it,
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  but I was like classic, of course, Like I'm a young female
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  founder on that stage talking about the highs and lows.
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  And the second I get off, some man comes up to me and thinks he
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  knows better and let me say he does not know better.
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  This was not like a venture capitalist, This was not a
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  founder. This was just a random man.
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  Anyways, as you can tell, that really rubbed me the wrong way.
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  But let's just move on. OK?
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  Let's get into the stories for today.
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  The first story that I have for you guys today is I'm going to
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  cover the James Charles, Kayla Malik and Evan Johnson
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  situation. So Kayla Malik has taken to
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  social media to share her experience of being in an
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  abusive relationship. And now James Charles is
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  involved. Big trigger warning.
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  We're going to be discussing topics around domestic violence
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  and abuse, so listener discretion is advised.
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  As always, there are time stamps if you do not want to hear the
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  story. So Kayla Malik is a popular Tik
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  toker. She started posting regularly on
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  the platform in 2019. A lot of people would know Kayla
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  from her transformation videos where she collaborated with
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  beauty influencers. In 2023, she created videos with
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  influencers like Meredith Duxbury, Michaela Naguera, and
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  ironically, James Charles, and they would all do her makeup.
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  The other key player in this is Evan Johnson.
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  There there's honestly not that much information about him out
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  there, but many publications have described him as a 20 year
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  old influencer. According to one of his ex best
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  friends, who we will talk about later, he frequently posted on
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  Snapchat and was in the creator fund for the platform.
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  Kayla and Evan were in a relationship for about 9 months
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  through 2024 and 2025. The first time Kayla really went
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  into the details of her relationship with Evan in a
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  meaningful way was in a YouTube video posted on April 4th titled
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  He Doesn't Love You at Part 1. The second part was posted on
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  April 10th, 10th. Together.
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  The videos were around 4 hours long.
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  She also posted to her TikTok, sharing a series of tearful
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  videos speaking to her experience.
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  These videos were organized around specific dates that were
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  significant to her, whether Evan was harming her, getting
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  violent, or even as Kayla says, trying to kill her.
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  She also shared very confronting videos of her injuries and her
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  reaction after certain incidents.
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  I don't want to get into the specifics of the violence, but I
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  will read the notes app statement that Kayla posted
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  before she started sharing her story quote.
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  For the past nine months, I was in an extremely abusive
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  relationship. I will never be able to forget
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  the scars left. I will never be the same girl I
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  was before this. The same man who will look you
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  in the eyes today and say I love you and then attempt to kill you
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  is an experience I hope nobody ever has to live to be scared of
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  the person you sleep next to. Permanent scars, physically and
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  mentally. I was silently being abused
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  while posting my life online. Smiling.
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  It's true, you can see it in the eyes.
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  I watch my old videos and see someone I never want to see
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  again. It drained my soul and ripped
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  apart the strong nature of myself I've had my entire life.
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  I can't put into words the abuse and what it did to me.
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  I asked the universe everyday why me and I came to the
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  conclusion this happened to me to save others.
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  If I saw this video nine months ago it would have saved my life.
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  I was put through this so I can save you.
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  Filming this video was the hardest thing I've ever had to
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  do. When you watch these videos, if
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  you relate to anything, leave. He doesn't love you.
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  This is not only my story but yours.
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  So Evan was arrested for domestic assault and probation
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  violations on April 7th. His assault of Kayla is on the
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  system and his hearing is on May 7th.
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  As reported by PEOPLE, Quote, influencer Evan Johnson was
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  arrested in Sumner County, Tennessee on a charge of
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  domestic assault and a violation of his probation.
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  On Monday, April 7th. PEOPLE confirmed with the Sumner
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  County Sheriff's Office that Johnson was arrested and later
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  released on bail on the same day.
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  Police did not identify the victim, so now it is being
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  alleged that James Charles, who at the time was friends with
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  Kayla, let Evan stay at his house for a week after he and
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  Kayla broke up. James was reportedly aware of
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  Evan's behavior but apparently let him stay at his house to
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  support him as he had been through cancellations online
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  before. Online friends of all parties,
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  including Evan and Kayla's, are alleging that James and Evan
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  have been seeing each other romantically.
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  Kayla hasn't addressed the allegations in detail, but
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  yesterday she did post a clip from her podcast with Jacob
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  Sartorius called Banging Out to Her TikTok where she spoke about
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  how a close friend of hers had betrayed her.
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  One user commented James Charles where Kayla went on to like that
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  comment. This has sent speculation into
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  OverDrive. OK, so I wanted to make it clear
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  before I continue. Obviously James has had tons of
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  condemnable behavior in his past, but so much of the
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  discourse online has been focused on like the quote UN
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  quote like drama between James and Kayla.
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  So many people are failing to hold the main perpetrator Evan
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  to account and they are minimizing the severity of the
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  situation by kind of diminishing it down to drama.
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  Now many influencers and people in Kayla and Evan's lives have
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  come forward to share what they know about the situation related
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  to Evan, Kayla, and James. Many of them have gone on to
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  validate Kayla's story and expressed support for her in
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  this extremely difficult time, most recently in a 55 minute
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  episode for the Be Better YouTube channel.
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  I know, I know, Be Better. How he has swindled his way into
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  this, I don't know. Zach Sellers, who is apparently
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  the ex best friend of Evan, shared his perspective on the
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  situation. In the interview, Zach details
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  his past friendship with Evan, explains the abusive behavior
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  from Evan and explains that allegedly he is aware of the
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  romantic relationship between James and Evan.
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  But again, be better named the podcast episode the downfall of
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  James Charles. And that's not to say that that
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  is not an important part of the story and an important thing to
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  look at when we're considering like, you know, having James
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  Charles in the the online zeitgeist.
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  But in general, like having this huge interview with someone who
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  was close to the perpetrator and framing it as like, oh, we're
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  going to take James Charles down, I think is missing the
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  mark. But aside from be Better,
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  Kayla's best friend Brennan has made a fair few Tik Toks about
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  the situation. The most impactful videos have
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  probably been Brennan talking about an incident at a party
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  where Evan became extremely protective over Kayla, accusing
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  Brennan of wanting to sleep with Kayla even though he is a gay
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  man and Evan also apparently got violent with him.
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  He went on to share screenshots of messages about the incident
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  that also included text describing his violent behavior
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  toward Kayla. He also spoke about a situation
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  in Hawaii where he was getting physical with Kayla and getting
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  verbally abusive. Brennan also shared voice
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  messages in the video. Other creators have spoken out
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  as well, including Michaela Testa.
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  Trisha and Oscar also spoke about it on the Just Trish
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  podcast and on a clip posted on the Spill the Tea With Me
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  TikTok, where Trisha and Oscar are discussing the alleged
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  affair between James and Evan, Kayla's sister Ashley commented
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  Quote. All I'm saying is it's not a
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  lie. I honestly don't recommend
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  looking up any of the content related to this.
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  It's really, really triggering. But yes, obviously justice for
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  Kayla. I am really, really hoping that
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  on May 7th, you know, she gets some justice.
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  But that is, that's the situation for now.
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  OK. The next story that I have for
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  you guys is that Hulu is making a documentary about Alex Cooper.
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  Hulu will be releasing a documentary in June about the
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  life and career of podcast queen Alex Cooper called Call her
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  Alex. Actually really like that name
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  from The Hollywood Reporter quote.
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  The two-part doc follows Cooper as she prepares for her first
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  tour supporting her call her Daddy podcast and traces her
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  life from a childhood in Pennsylvania to influential
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  media figure. So the show will be produced by
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  the Unwell Network and it will air on Hulu.
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  And I honestly don't know if I will ever get over the fact that
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  we are calling the network unwell and we are using that
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  with our full chest, like dead seriously when we are talking
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  about these business deals. I remember when she named the
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  network, she announced the network and she announced the
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  name and everyone was like, what the actual hell?
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  Like that's the worst name ever. I mean, it doesn't seem to have
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  held them back at all. I still think the name is unwell
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  and I love the word unwell. I say unwell all the time.
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  Actually when I left my last job before Centennial to start
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  Centennial in 2019. When you work in women's media,
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  at least here in Australia, a lot of the times when you're
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  like leaving magazines or digital publishers, your
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  colleagues will make like a custom like magazine cover like
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  of you with headlines that are like relevant to you.
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  So my friends made me a custom like digital homepage of the
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  website that I worked for with like stories related to me in my
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  pictures and stuff. And one of them was like, I've
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  been unwell for 28 years because I was 28 when I left.
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  And I said unwell all the time. And all of my friends at work
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  that that was so funny. And I was not even really a call
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  her daddy listener at all. But I just, I do love that word,
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  but like, it's not the right word for a business like this.
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  I actually think they will probably end up changing the
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  name down the line. Yeah, this is a huge deal.
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  Like, honestly, good for Alex. I think it's really interesting,
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  at least for me, to like, keep track of what's going on in her
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  career and the movements that she's making.
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  I saw Shannon from Fluently Forward say that she is like
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  everything Logan Paul does, like Alex Cooper does next.
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  And I was like, I've never thought of it like that, but
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  it's actually so true. It's such a funny, like, pop
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  culture conspiracy theory. OK The next story that I have
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  for you guys is that The Ordinary has put the business of
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  celebrity endorsements on full display.
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  The ordinaries latest pop up activation has taken a swipe at
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  the cost of celebrity endorsements in the beauty space
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  to quote shed light on the true cost of fame when it comes to
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  skin care marketing. The activation was called the
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  secret ingredient pop up and it was basically like an empty
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  storefront just filled with this giant pile of money like a pile
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  of dollar bills quote with some celebrity endorsements raising
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  product prices by 30 to 100% or more and some a list stars
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  charging up to $10 million for a single post.
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  The ordinary is creating a storefront that offers an
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  artistic visual representation of what those inflated prices
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  could cost consumers money that would otherwise be spent on high
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  quality ingredients and scientific research, not
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  celebrity hype. So this activation has really
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  popped off on brand and advertising like TikTok and
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  LinkedIn. I saw this one post on LinkedIn
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  talk about how not only did it expose how much money some of
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  our favorite brands could be like quote, UN quote, like
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  wasting on these endorsements, which obviously comes out of our
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  pockets at some point down the line.
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  But the activation also drove home how strong Desi M's brand
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  message has always been and how they've been able to build this
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  like cult following this cult brand, a hugely successful brand
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  without these markups, without these celebrity endorsements and
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  just like solid formulas that work.
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  I think it's interesting how, I mean, there's less transparency
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  in celebrity endorsements and sponsorships and then there is
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  an influencer marketing. But I think it's interesting
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  because we so, so, so rarely hear any criticism around the
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  price tag of a celebrity endorsement.
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  But we are constantly ragging on influencers for charging so much
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  to brands. And now, like with this
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  activation, I think that's probably part of it, you know,
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  is seeing like $10 million for a single post from a celebrity.
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  No one is ever worth that money. And the return on investment, I
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  don't know if it would be the same anymore, I imagine.
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  But I know, you know, back in the day, back in the day, a huge
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  reason why a lot of brands moved more heavily towards influencer
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  marketing was even with celebrity endorsements, like you
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  don't make your money back. It's like an alignment and like
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  APR moment. It's not that kind of like spend
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  money, make money immediately the same way that influencer
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  marketing used to be. We talked very briefly about
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  that in the Clutch interview from yesterday.
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  So if you guys haven't listened to that, go and listen.
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  There's time stamps if you want to just like get to their
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  interview. But yeah, they were saying,
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  like, being quoted like $75,000 from a single influencer and
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  making like, nothing back. And it's like, yeah, but think
• 14:07
  about this with celebrities, like $10 million for one pose.
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  No, the last story that I have is a quick one, but Piper Raquel
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  has broken her silence on the abuse allegations against her
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  mother Tiffany, following the Netflix documentary that we
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  talked about, I think it was 2 weeks ago.
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  So Piper did an interview with the Rolling Stone off the back
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  of kind of the backlash of this docu series that came out about
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  the Piper Squad and being child influencer and, you know, kind
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  of exposing what her mother has allegedly put her through and a
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  lot of her friends through. So she told Rolling Stone that
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  her former Piper Squad members are, quote, stretching the truth
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  about her encounters with her mother and her mother's
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  boyfriend. Quote, they're not making it up,
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  but they're extending the truth. I was there.
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  I witnessed everyday. I think that they believe what
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  they are saying. But I was there and I saw
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  everything. You know, where I live.
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  Come get me. If you want to save me, If you
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  want to, quote, save Piper, stop talking, please.
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  Because by hurting my mother, you're hurting a part of me.
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  I mean, I'm not surprised that this is her response.
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  I am not surprised that she's defending her mother.
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  She's still a teenager. I can't even imagine how much
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  reconciling she is going to need to do, how much therapy and
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  inner work and distance from all of this.
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  She's going to need to properly deal with what has happened to
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  her childhood. But the fact that her mother cuz
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  she's still a minor. So I imagine for things like
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  interviews like her mother has to sign off still.
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  Like I cannot believe just how toxic this all is.
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  Like her mother presumably signing off for her to do this
• 15:50
  interview with Rolling Stone so that she can defend her.
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  Like it's all so disgusting and it's not surprising, but it's
• 15:57
  so, so disgusting. I really just hope that brands
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  stop spending with child influencers and on child
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  accounts and child channels. Like there should be no
• 16:08
  sponsorships for children on YouTube, just like full stop.
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  I actually got asked about that in my presentation.
• 16:16
  Somebody said, you know, when Gen.
• 16:19
  Z ages out, like is your brand going to stay a Gen.
• 16:22
  Z media brand? Are you going to be youth
• 16:23
  culture? And for me, it's more about the
• 16:26
  fact that like Internet culture aligns with youth culture.
• 16:29
  It's always going to align with youth culture, but especially
• 16:33
  now because there's just this interesting place in time,
• 16:37
  right? Where like millennials were kind
• 16:39
  of the last generation that didn't like grow up like fully
• 16:43
  online in the way that like Gen. Zed has, we've indirectly become
• 16:47
  quite a Gen. Zed focused brand with a Gen.
• 16:50
  Zed audience. But like our true roots are like
• 16:54
  the creator economy, Internet culture, and that's always going
• 16:57
  to be the focus of our brand. It's not like, oh, we're trying
• 16:59
  to reach this generation. It's like, this is what we cover
• 17:02
  and like, so this is who we're reaching.
• 17:04
  But I said like we do every once in a while, touch on Gen.
• 17:08
  Alpha. But I'm never going to create
• 17:10
  content intentionally for children.
• 17:12
  Like I am not trying to market to children because if I'm
• 17:15
  creating content that is relevant to Gen.
• 17:17
  Alpha, that means that on YouTube they're getting ads from
• 17:21
  our videos, right? Or any of the sponsorships, like
• 17:24
  they're hearing a sponsorship for a brand like they're
• 17:27
  children. I'm not in the business of
• 17:29
  advertising to kids. So yeah, that's how I feel about
• 17:33
  all of this. Anyways, guys, thank you for
• 17:36
  listening to Mini Scroll. I'm sorry that a couple of these
• 17:38
  stories were really heavy, but I thought they're important to
• 17:40
  talk about. They're important to keep
• 17:42
  addressing. I love you guys.
• 17:44
  Thank you so much for listening. Please rate, review and
• 17:46
  subscribe. Please subscribe to us on
• 17:48
  YouTube. We're still trying to get to
• 17:49
  10,000 subscribers. We're almost there.
• 17:51
  I know I say that every day, but we are almost there.
• 17:54
  I love you guys and I will talk to you on Monday.
• 17:57
  Bye.